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Lick vs Wick - What's the difference?

lick | wick |

As nouns the difference between lick and wick

is that lick is the act of licking; a stroke of the tongue while wick is a bundle, twist, braid, or woven strip of cord, fabric, fibre/fiber, or other porous material in a candle, oil lamp, kerosene heater, or the like, that draws up liquid fuel, such as melted tallow, wax, or the oil, delivering it to the base of the flame for conversion to gases and burning; any other length of material burned for illumination in small successive portions or wick can be (british|dialect|chiefly|east anglia|and|essex) a farm, especially a dairy farm or wick can be (british|dialect|chiefly|yorkshire) liveliness; life or wick can be a corner of the mouth or eye.

As verbs the difference between lick and wick

is that lick is to stroke with the tongue while wick is to convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.

As an adjective wick is

(british|dialect|chiefly|yorkshire) alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.

lick

English

(licking)

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of licking; a stroke of the tongue.
    • The cat gave its fur a lick .
  • The amount of some substance obtainable with a single lick.
    • Give me a lick of ice cream.
  • A quick and careless application of anything, as if by a stroke of the tongue, or of something which acts like a tongue.
    • a lick''' of paint; to put on colours with a '''lick of the brush
  • * Gray
    • a lick of court white wash
  • A place where animals lick minerals from the ground.
    • The birds gathered at the clay lick .
  • A small watercourse or ephemeral stream. It ranks between a rill and a stream.
    • We used to play in the lick .
  • (colloquial) A stroke or blow.
    • Hit that wedge a good lick with the sledgehammer.
  • (colloquial) A bit.
    • You don't have a lick of sense.
    I didn't do a lick of work today.
  • (music) A short motif.
    • There are some really good blues licks in this solo.
  • speed. In this sense it is always qualified by good', or ' fair or a similar adjective.
    • The bus was travelling at a good lick when it swerved and left the road.

    Synonyms

    * (bit) see also .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To stroke with the tongue.
    • The cat licked its fur.
  • (colloquial) To defeat decisively, particularly in a fight.
    • My dad can lick your dad.
  • (colloquial) To overcome.
    • I think I can lick this.
  • (vulgar, slang) To perform cunnilingus.
  • (colloquial) To do anything partially.
  • To lap
  • * 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter XI
    • Now, in this decadent age the art of fire-making had been altogether forgotten on the earth. The red tongues that went licking up my heap of wood were an altogether new and strange thing to Weena.
  • To lap; to take in with the tongue.
    • A cat licks milk.
    (Shakespeare)

    Derived terms

    * ass-licker * cow lick * good lick * lick one's chops * lick one's wounds * lick out * lickspittle * lick up * licked * lickety split * outlick

    wick

    English

    (wikipedia wick)

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) weke, wicke; (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bundle, twist, braid, or woven strip of cord, fabric, fibre/fiber, or other porous material in a candle, oil lamp, kerosene heater, or the like, that draws up liquid fuel, such as melted tallow, wax, or the oil, delivering it to the base of the flame for conversion to gases and burning; any other length of material burned for illumination in small successive portions.
    • Trim the wick fairly short, so that the flame does not smoke.
  • * Spenser
    • But true it is, that when the oil is spent / The light goes out, and wick is thrown away.
  • Any piece of porous material that conveys liquid by capillary action; a strip of gauze placed in a wound to serve as a drain.
  • (curling) A narrow opening in the field, flanked by other players' stones.
  • (curling) A shot where the played stone touches a stationary stone just enough that the played stone changes direction.
  • (slang) Penis.
  • * 2008 , Marcus Van Heller, Nest of Vixens , ISBN 9781596549449, p. 17:
    • His wick was stone stiff.
  • * 2009 , Ira Robbins, Kick It Till It Breaks , , ISBN 9780984253913, p. 130:
    • Her laugh wasn't cruel in tone, but it cut through Husk like a scalpel, withering his wick even further.
    Derived terms
    * get on someone's wick

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To convey or draw off (liquid) by capillary action.
    • The fabric wicks perspiration away from the body.
  • (of a liquid) To traverse ( be conveyed by capillary action) through a wick or other porous material, as water through a sponge. Usually followed by through.
    • The moisture slowly wicked through the wood.
  • (curling) To strike (a stone) obliquely; to strike (a stationary stone) just enough that the played stone changes direction.

    • Etymology 2

    From earlier (etyl) wik, .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (British, dialect, chiefly, East Anglia, and, Essex) A farm, especially a dairy farm.
  • (archaic) A village; hamlet; castle; dwelling; street; creek; bay; harbour; a place of work, jurisdiction, or exercise of authority.
    • Usage notes
    * Present in compounds (meaning “village”, “jurisdiction”, or “harbour”), as, bailiwick, Warwick, Greenwick, , etc., also -wich .
    Related terms
    * vicinity * villa * village * -wich

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) .

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) Alive; lively; full of life; active; bustling; nimble; quick.
    • as wick as an eel
    T' wickest young chap at ivver Ah seen.
    He's a strange wick bairn alus runnin' aboot.
    I'll skin ye wick ! (skin you alive)
    I thowt they was dead last back end but they're wick enif noo.
    "''Are you afraid of going across the churchyard in the dark?" "Lor' bless yer noä miss! It isn't dead uns I'm scar'd on, it's wick uns."
    I'll swop wi' him my poor dead horse for his wick .'' — ''Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England , page 210
    Related terms
    * wicken

    Noun

  • (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) Liveliness; life.
    • I niver knew such an a thing afore in all my wick . — Ashby, 12 July 1875
  • (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) The growing part of a plant nearest to the roots.
    • Fed close? Why, it's eaten into t' hard wick . (spoken of a pasture which has been fed very close)
  • (British, dialect, chiefly, Yorkshire) A maggot.

    • Etymology 4

    From (etyl) vik.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A corner of the mouth or eye.
  • * 1969 , Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor , Penguin 2011, p. 57:
    • She considered him. A fiery droplet in the wick of her mouth considered him.

    References

    * "wick" in BBC - North Yorkshire - Voices - Glossary * Notes and Queries , Tenth Series, Vol. IV, 1905, page 170 * A. Smythe Palmer, Folk-Etymology, A Dictionary of verbal corruptions or words perverted in form or meaning, by false derivation or mistaken analogy , 1882, page xxii * John Christopher Atkinson, A glossary of the Cleveland dialect: explanatory, derivative, and critical , 1868, page 573 * W. D. Parish, Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect and Collection of Provincialisms in use in the County of Sussex, 1877, page 274-5